Investments in startups dip by 36% yoy in Q1

Owing to the spike in the number of people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in India, investments in Indian startups plunged in the March quarter. According to data from a research service platform Venture Intelligence, the number of investments went down by 35.71% to 126 during the period from 196 last year. In terms of value, investments fell 22% to US$ 1.74 billion in the first quarter of 2020 as compared to US$ 2.22 billion in March 2019.

“While VC investors in India seemed to have shrugged off the chilly winds emerging from the US (owing to the WeWork IPO fiasco and Uber stock price slide of late 2019), the Coronavirus contagion infected the ecosystem sharply starting mid-March,” said Arun Natarajan, founder of Venture Intelligence stated.

The report also stated that in Q1’20, fintech firms emerged as the most attractive sector with 19 investments worth US$ 380 million for VC investments followed by health care and e-commerce, which saw 17 and 15 deals respectively.